George Halada Farmstead · Photo: Jeff the quiet · CC0Most of Montpelier commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
Jobs and income earn Montpelier B+; getting around on foot earns it C. Montpelier has 361 jobs, and 710 of its residents work somewhere. Only 3% work in Montpelier itself; outside it, Green Bay draws the most (14%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Montpelier at work: what stands out
Montpelier makes and builds things
92% of the jobs based in Montpelier are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Montpelier residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 36%. The jobs ↓
Most jobs in Montpelier pay over $40,000 a year
75% of the jobs based in Montpelier pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 710 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Montpelier gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Montpelier is better than 66% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Montpelier’s grade. It also does well on household income and job access by car.
Unemployment (3.2%) is left out: Montpelier’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Montpelier could be anywhere from B− to A−.
92% of the jobs in Montpelier make or build things
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Montpelier, 2014 → 2024: 218 → 361. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Montpelier’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Montpelier on a workday
On a workday 689 residents head out to work, 21 work right here, and 340 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Montpelier on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The towns that employ Montpelier’s residents
Where Montpelier clocks in
14% of workers
9% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Getting to work from Montpelier takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Montpelier workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 632 commuters (the 8% who work from home are left out). Across Wisconsin: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Near or far: the trip to work from Montpelier
About 16% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most trips from Montpelier start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Montpelier is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 3.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 687 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.0% of Montpelier households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Montpelier’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900, Montpelier ranks 1,235th of 5,877 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Wind Point WI | 1,620 | $143K | 0.4% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,233 | Wilson Township MN | 1,140 | $99K | 6.7% | 1.4% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,234 | Hopewell Township OH | 1,435 | $96K | 7.7% | 7.2% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,235 | Montpelier WI | 1,375 | $86K | 7.5% | 3.2% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,236 | Alto CA | 1,024 | $129K | 26.0% | 3.9% | <1% | B+ |
| 1,237 | Churubusco IN | 1,853 | $65K | 9.2% | 1.8% | 11% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Montpelier, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Work in the towns next to Montpelier
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Montpelier workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montpelier | – | B+ | C | 22 min | $85,825 |
| West Kewaunee | under 3% | B | B− | 26 min | $91,250 |
| Luxemburg | under 3% | A− | B+ | 22 min | $89,167 |
| Franklin | under 3% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| Eaton | under 3% | A | C | 25 min | $113,269 |
Same-state neighbors only. Franklin: the same community as the city of that name, graded once. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Montpelier’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Montpelier: questions
What is the median household income in Montpelier?
$85,825 (±$2,891) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Montpelier?
7.5%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Montpelier?
22 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Montpelier work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Green Bay (14%, 14 mi), Kewaunee (9%, 9 mi), Luxemburg (8%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Montpelier walkable?
Montpelier is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 3.1 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Montpelier without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Montpelier, from the people who make the trip.
More of Montpelier
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.